Cosby accused of sexual assault

Comic legend Bill Cosby is at the centre of a police investigation, after a female acquaintance of the funnyman accused him of sexually assaulting her.

Attorney Walter Phillips said he spoke with authorities in Pennsylvania yesterday who told him they have begun an investigation.

He would not discuss the specifics of the allegation - which he called "utterly preposterous" - but said it amounts to, at the most, "inappropriate touching."

No charges have been brought against Cosby. Phillips said the accuser, who lives in Canada, knows Cosby and the alleged incident in question happened in January last year.

Police in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb where Cosby has a home, declined to comment.

"I know the person making the accusation hasn't been contacted by authorities," Phillips said from his office in Philadelphia. "We are hopeful and optimistic that no charges will be brought forward."

Dave Selby, a spokesman with the Durham Regional Police in Durham, Ontario, said police had passed on allegations from a woman there to authorities in Pennsylvania but declined to confirm whether they involved Cosby.

Cosby postponed a town hall meeting in Cleveland yesterday and has postponed three upcoming shows in Florida, his publicist David Brokaw said.

Brokaw would not say whether the postponements have anything to do with the recent allegation.